LAPD changing surveillance program to satisfy Muslims’ complaints

The Los Angeles Police Department has agreed to change their methods on reporting and monitoring the activities of potential terrorists after lobbying by Muslim and Sikh leaders, Religion News reports.

The move comes after the New York Police Department was criticized for secretly monitoring Muslims both within the city and in neighboring states.

The Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) federal program was developed in Los Angeles in 2008 to prevent terrorist attacks and then adopted by major cities nationwide. It allowed the LAPD to follow up on reports of strange but not necessarily criminal behavior and then keep and share the information they gathered with local and federal agencies.

A Muslim man taking a picture of an office building was considered sufficient behavior to prompt a police report, as well as praying in a parking lot or viewing a bridge through binoculars. The Muslim Public Affairs Council, a policy advocacy group, requested the LAPD limit the SAR program to only follow up on reports of criminal activity and only allow surveillance of individuals known to be connected to terrorism.